Casting Off
by kelsey731
Summary: Fourth and final part to Disarm.
1. Chapter 1

Renata wasn't sure how long she had been in the hospital. Long enough that the noises of the monitors that covered the wall didn't distract her. They faded into the dimly lit background. The days seemed to run together in this foreign place. The only people she saw for weeks on end were the doctors that checked on her and the occasional person that walked past her glass-paned door. Sometimes Leona would come in to see her, and the first time Rini had saw her she had wept. They were safe, the whole lot of them. Leona had informed her that Mags was in Thirteen as well and that the extraction plan had worked. That is, the extraction plan outside of the arena.

There was no news of what had happened to the people left behind. No news of Finnick.

"Where are you?" She whispered, her body trembling.

Darkness answered her and she closed her eyes, her lips pressing into a hard line in an effort to keep her cries silent. She wasn't the only person in the hospital who had frequent bouts of sobbing by any means, but sometimes if she got too loud it would attract someone wanting to stick her with more needles or offer another type of medicine to remedy that. Crying used to be a source of relief, it provided an outlet for feelings of anger or sadness, even happiness. No amount of tears that she shed brought any relief. Her guilt, her grief was never-ending.

"_If you don't go, then we're both dead!" He had shouted. "Don't look back. I will find you, I promise."_

Why had she listened to him? She had abandoned him. Even if he was still alive, what were the chances that she would ever see him again? He had been the Capitol's darling. He practically had marks on his skin from their grip on him. Now that they had proof of him being involved in a rebel plan, they would never let him go. This was supposed to have been his chance at freedom and she had robbed him of it. She turned over in bed, feeling awfully sorry for herself. What a waste she had been. On him, on Cecil, on everyone she had ever been associated with.

"Where are you?" She whispered again, frantically. Her throat was thick with tears and she choked quietly, her fingers digging into the linens on her bed. She couldn't stay here much longer; the air was stagnant. She longed for a breeze.

The door to her room opened and she hid her face into the pillow, not in the mood to see anyone. If it was a doctor, she prayed that they would be satisfied in giving her more sleeping medicine and then leave without another word.

"Renata," A familiar voice said. A voice she had believed to be dead.

She sat up and reached for the remote beside her bed that controlled the lights. Katniss Everdeen stood at the end of her bed, in the same white hospital gown and with the same bloodshot eyes that Rini had.

"You're alive," Rini whispered, swallowing. Her eyes drifted to the bandage wound around her wrist. Had she tried to hurt herself? No, the memory of Johanna cutting her arm filled her head and she swallowed again, hard. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what was going to happen. I thought you were dead."

Katniss continued to stare at her, barely acknowledging her apology.

"Is Peeta okay?"

Her mouth twisted at that and she finally looked away. "No. I don't know. He's in the Capitol. They left him behind."

Another wave of guilt hit her; had she been responsible for Peeta's capture too? "They've got Finnick," She whispered, her lower lip trembling. "I don't know who else. All I remember is seeing you and Beetee on the hovercraft. Is there anyone else?"

The younger girl shook her head, her slight frame trembling. "Everyone else was taken." She was quiet again before turning to leave.

"Are they…alive?" She was afraid to ask.

Katniss lifted her chin and met her eyes again and Rini recognized the expression of agony on her face that echoed her own. "I don't know."

* * *

><p>The metal slab would have been more appropriate as an autopsy table than a bed. Still, he sighed in relief to lay upon it. It would take only minutes before the chill set into his skin, but for a brief moment he could rest comfortably. The light in the cell never shut off, throwing his sense of time completely out of wack. Sleeping was sporadic, plagued with nightmares. How long had he been here? Was he actually alive?<p>

Finnick held his thin wrist, looking at the newest damage. All the fingernails on his right hand, save his pinky, had been pried off. Dried blood stained his skin and he swallowed, knowing that the numbness he felt now wouldn't last. He would awake to more aches and pains that his body was hiding from him.

Someone screamed; maybe Johanna? He closed his eyes and shivered, willing himself to get off of the metal bench. With a groan, he pushed himself up and onto the floor. He pressed his back into a corner by the sliding cell door and grabbed his thin blanket, carefully wrapping it around himself. It hardly kept in the heat his body held, despite his wishful thinking. His sunken eyes drooped and he felt himself fall into sleep rather than letting it take him.

_He had never seen such an amount of snow. He brought his hand up to shield his eyes from the blistering wind, turning around. There was no distinct landmark in any direction. The white desert seemed to be never ending, and it was getting colder. The powder crunched under his boots as he headed forward, his teeth chattering louder than the howling wind. Where was he supposed to go? Was there an end to this?_

_Someone grabbed his shoulder and whipped him around. A boy with brown skin and flashing white teeth. Before Finnick could react, he raised a knife and plunged it into his eye._

Finnick snapped his head up, smacking it against the wall. He wasn't sure of how long he had been out, probably only a few minutes. His heart was pounding so fast that it made his whole chest ache. What kind of dream had that been? His hand was throbbing and his fingers were swollen as he moved to his eye, breathing a sigh of relief when it was still there, intact in its socket. The blanket had fallen from around his shoulders and his body felt like ice.

There was something very familiar about the nightmare. The landscape, the boy that had attacked him. They weren't just nightmares, he realized. They were memories. Not his memories, however.

Rini's.

A sob burst from his throat so suddenly that he didn't recognize it was coming from him. He put his head in his hands, swallowing hard. Being locked up was making him crazy. It was hard to distinguish what was real anymore. Drawing a shaky breath and closing his eyes, he began to tick off a list of things he knew for a fact to be true.

"My name is Finnick Odair," he began, his voice sounding strange to his ears. "I'm twenty four..." Or was he twenty-five now? "M-my home is District Four," he continued in a whisper, tears blurring his vision. "I was in the Hunger Games. I was taken prisoner in the Capitol. Rini escaped. Rini is safe."

It was the one thing he could take comfort in. He had seen her get taken onto the hovercraft and off to safety in District Thirteen. Far away from the tortures that had become his everyday life. It was better this way. He had been dealing with the Capitol for many years. It would take more than a few gnarled fingernails to break him.

* * *

><p>"I can leave?" Renata asked, sitting up in bed. The IVs had all been removed from her and purple bruises covered her arms. She had been in the hospital a little more than a month, she had found out. How had that much time passed? "Where am I supposed to go?"<p>

The doctor handed her a slip of paper that had N-34 written on it. "That is the number for your living quarters. Tomorrow you will get your first schedule and you will be assigned to a job. Do you have any questions for me before you are discharged?"

She blinked and shook her head, not sure of where she would begin her list of questions. "No. Thank you for your help." She gave the doctor a small nod when she smiled and got up, the floor cold on her bare feet.

"I'll walk you to the elevator. It can be a bit confusing your first time."

Renata nodded again and she followed the woman out of her hospital room and down the hallway. She peered through the glass doors of each room they passed, wondering if Katniss was still in the hospital. Most rooms were empty, the few that had occupants were people that Rini didn't recognize. A shiver went through her and she folded her arms over her chest. The hospital gown she wore was a bit drafty.

"Here we are," The door screeched when it was pulled open and Renata peered inside. "In you go. Once you get to your floor, you'll see signs for room numbers. If you need anything, come back to the hospital, alright?" She pressed a button and closed the door, locking Rini in. "Welcome to Thirteen."

The elevator shuddered to life and she grabbed onto the wall for balance, swallowing back nausea. The floors zoomed by and then she was suddenly standing still again. Her head was spinning and before she could move to open the doors, they opened and a man walked in.

"Is this your floor?" He asked, his hand hovering in front of the panel of buttons. Upon closer inspection Rini saw that he wasn't a man, he looked to be around her age. His gray eyes flickered to her hospital gown and then back to her face.

"I didn't break out of the hospital, I swear," Rini finally spoke, opening her hand and smoothing out the crumpled piece of paper. "Can you tell me where this is?"

The boy cocked his head to the side and read the apartment number, nodding. "You go left off the elevator. All the doors are labeled, you'll see it."

The concrete platform she stepped onto was cold on her feet and she shivered, looking out at the open center of the district. The way it was structured reminded her of the viewing center in the Capitol. Only instead of tiers for viewing balconies there were entire floors of apartments. The elevator doors screeched closed behind her and hummed to life, and the boy disappeared to another floor.

People gave her curious glances as she walked along the platforms, making her want to run back to the hospital and hide. She sincerely hoped that she would be given something other than a gown to wear in her time living in Thirteen. Everyone was wearing identical clothes and everywhere she looked it was the same drab gray color. The complete opposite from the Capitol.

The door to apartment N-34 slid open and Leona emerged, a smile on her lips. It was an expression that had been forced for the longest time that Rini had known the woman, but now it finally looked natural.

"They told me you would be discharged today," she said softly, holding her in a gentle embrace. "I would have come and gotten you myself, but I had all the kids with me. It's right in the middle of our sit down time."

Renata furrowed her brow in confusion when Leona released her, following her inside the apartment. It wasn't much bigger than her hospital room had been. "Sit down time?"

"It's all a part of the schedule. They run a tight ship here," The older woman murmured and pulled up her sleeve to show her the typed words on her wrist. "It varies a little every day, but sit down time is always at the end of the day. Polom, Aria? Look who's here."

The children looked up and smiled at Renata, their sweet faces turning her into a puddle. Leona must have given them a talking to before she had shown up, worried that they would overwhelm her. Vic, the youngest, was snoozing on the built in bench in the wall. They all looked so different from the last time she had seen them.

"I missed you," She whispered, going over and kissing the tops of their heads.

* * *

><p>Vic had had a nightmare.<p>

Rini laid awake, staring up at the grey concrete ceiling of their apartment, listening to Leona's muffled words of comfort from below her. She hadn't been asleep anyway. Plus, it wasn't too long ago that Renata had been waking up every night, blinded by fear from her own nightmares. She turned over in her bed, listening to the sounds of Vic's small sniffles as he began to calm down. A wave of familiarity washed over her suddenly. The hushed voices, the dark, the cramped space- Whenever there had been a particularly bad storm back home, Cecil and Leona would gather all the kids into their room and they would wait it out together. Was this what they were doing? Waiting out another storm?

A month had passed and no one knew anything about the people that were left behind. She had a feeling that they wouldn't hear anything until the Capitol desired them to. She was afraid for them, deep in her bones. Their disobedience was enough to have them publicly executed. Tears welled in her eyes and she turned her face into her pillow, letting them soak into the pillow. Snow had to have something bigger planned for them.

Through her tears, she felt a tiny nudge in her stomach. She stayed still and waited for it to happen again, her heart pounding. After a moment, it happened again and she moved her hand to cover the tiny swell of her stomach. "It's okay," she whispered.

The doctors had said it had been a close call. With everything that she had gone through in the arena: the trauma, dehydration, malnutrition, she should have lost the baby.

_"That one is a tough. They're a survivor, just like their mother."_

They were nothing stronger than flutters, but it was enough to reassure her that her baby was still alive. Finnick's baby. She curled into herself, forming a protective cocoon for her stomach. "It's okay," she said again, her voice barely a whisper. "We're going to be okay."

They were safe from the Capitol's clutches, but with Finnick held captive she felt as though a piece of her was there with him. How long would it take for them to break him and the other victors? And if they did, would Snow then bring the hammer down on everyone in District Thirteen? How long were they safe? She swallowed back her fear for the sake of her sanity and closed her eyes, counting the small flutters in her stomach as they happened until they gradually stopped and she was asleep.

**Well hello there! Happy New Year! If you're reading this and have never heard of Renata before, perhaps it would be of help to go and read the three other stories that precede this one! If you know Rini, then welcome back! I hope you were able to wait patiently and are happy with the start of this one! I'm very excited to explore the events of Mockingjay (and after) and incorporate Rini's story into it! Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought of it, I appreciate every single one!**

**-Kelsey xx**


	2. Chapter 2

"Got anything to talk about today, Finnick?"

He sighed as he sat back in the metal chair, closing his eyes to try and stop the room from spinning. First they secured his wrists and then his ankles to the chair; that was routine. As for _how_ they would torture him: that was a guessing game he wasn't very good at. Maybe today they would surprise him and let him eat! Or perhaps allow him to have a wash? Even the thought of soaking in a hot bath was too difficult to conjure up.

"Finnick."

He opened his eyes and sighed, shaking his head. "Nope. I don't know anything." He laid his head back, waiting for them to cut him or shock him or do whatever they pleased to him.

"You do know that if you tell us anything, we won't have to hurt you," One of the faceless torturers said. Almost as if they were reluctant to do so. When he didn't answer they sighed. "Okay then. Bring her in."

Finnick felt his stomach drop; were they going to make him watch as they tortured someone else? He could handle them torturing him, he didn't care too much about his own pain. "Who?" He asked, lifting his head. The room was narrow and long, without any windows. The door squeaked when it opened and he was afraid to see if they had dragged Johanna out of her cell to beat in front of him.

The shorter torturer finally appeared, dragging a mess of a girl in by her elbow. Her hair was matted and some clumps were missing, but when she found the strength to raise her head a cry of anguish exploded from him.

The restraints barely contained him when he tried to jump out of the chair, the veins in his forehead bulging against his skin. How had they gotten her here?! "Let her go!" He snarled, feeling as much as a feral animal as he had to have looked. "Don't touch her!"

It appeared that they already had, and for some time. There were old bruises and fresh ones that covered her face and a recent bloody lip. She looked around fearfully, not seeing him, not seeing anything. Had they blinded her? All he could do was stare in horror, trying to figure out how they had gotten to her.

"I saw her to safety!" He yelled. "I saw her safe!" He pulled at his restraints, numb to the pain that bit at his wrists and ankles.

"Finnick?" Rini's head snapped up.

"Rini!" He called back, tears hot on his cheeks. "Bring her closer, I want to see her. Bring her to me!"

"That's not how this works," His torturer muttered from beside him. He motioned towards his assistant and nodded. "Hit her."

Before Finnick could voice a protest, Rini was crying out in pain and slumping to the floor. She held her cheek and rocked herself back and forth, bursting into tears.

"I'll ask you again. Tell me what you know about the rebel's plan of action."

Finnick's brain was spinning, trying to find the answers to his demands. His mind was going blank, he could not recall even an inkling of plans. "I-I don't remember," he swallowed, looking at the faceless man helplessly. "Please-"

"Hit her again."

"No!"

The short man bashed the side of Rini's head in with the grip of his gun and he heard her head bounce when it smacked the ground.

"Can you remember now?"

He flailed his legs in frustration, or tried to. "I'm telling you, I don't know! Stop hurting her! Give me a minute to think!" He begged, crying when the signal was given to hurt her again.

Rini was crying his name now, calling for him to come and save her. The room was heavy with the scent of her blood and the sound of blows landing on her skin filled his ears.

"Help me!" She screamed.

"Bring her here," The man to Finnick's side ordered in a sharp voice.

After a moment she appeared at his side and he choked out another sob. He lifted his hand to touch her but his restraint stopped him. Cool metal pressed against his temple and his heart skipped a beat. They wouldn't dare kill him. He swallowed and took a breath, his eyes not leaving Rini.

"The rebel plan. This is your last chance."

He was shaking, a chill set deep in his bones. "Close your eyes, Rini." Even if she couldn't see, it would make him feel better. The hammer clicked in his ear and he swallowed again, hard. "I don't know anything."

The man sighed and lifted the gun from his temple. Rini's head whipped backwards when he fired and she fell to the ground in a lifeless slump.

He woke screaming, as he did so often these days. His fingers throbbed and were wet with blood. Finnick sat up and held his pounding head, wishing he could blink his nightmare away. A light in his cell flickered and then resumed its hum of power.

"I'm doing a better job of torturing myself than they are," He mumbled, opening his tired eyes. Doubtless someone would be coming to take him to that damned room soon.

As if on cue, he heard footsteps outside his cell and for a moment he was terrified that his dream had been a premonition. What if they had somehow gotten to Rini? That was one sure-fire way of breaking him. The small flap at the bottom of the door opened and a tray slid through. The plate had a small pile of grain in the middle of it, a rubbery looking strip of meat, and a piece of bread that was best described as a rock. He fought back a bubble of hysterical laughter as he watched a bottle of water roll under the flap as well before it snapped shut.

* * *

><p>Not only was Rini panting by the time she had found her way to the laundry, but she was behind schedule. The walls were lined with machines that were humming and thumping and Rini watched it all, trying not to panic.<p>

A woman noticed her standing there and approached her with a smile. "Are you new?"

She nodded, heat rising in her cheeks. "I'm sorry I'm late, I got lost…" Her minor anxiety attack in the stairwell hadn't helped either. "I'm Rini."

"I'm Lelani," The woman smiled. "We were all new once, there's no need to apologize." She turned and motioned for Rini to follow her. "Laundry isn't too hard, there's just a lot of it. We're washing for the whole district, so there's always going to be stuff that needs to be washed. Our work is never done," She smiled over her shoulder and Rini gave a small smile in return. "The others don't really like it when people just stand around, so be sure to help out someone else or find more work if yours is all done."

Rini nodded, glancing up and watching as a metal chute opened and a pile of clothes fell from it into an awaiting cart. "So basically everyone does everything?"

Lelani laughed and she shrugged. "Do your own work first then find more."

Someone touched Rini's shoulder and she turned, her heart swelling at the sight of the old woman. "Mags!" She breathed, hugging her close. She seemed more fragile since the last time they were together and Rini feared that she had suffered another stroke. "I'm so glad to see you." Mags touched her cheek, smiling through the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, it's my fault that Finnick-"

Mags shook her head and patted her cheek, turning serious.

"Are you okay here? They're making you work?" That didn't sit well with her; the woman could barely walk! She turned her head to question Lelani, but the woman had disappeared.

The old woman shook her head and grunted, making gestures to the amount of people in the room and then herself.

"You'd rather be doing something than sitting by yourself all day," Rini deduced, smiling when Mags smiled and nodded. She couldn't resist hugging her again, planting a soft kiss to her wrinkled cheek. Her heart fluttered when Mags set her hands on her stomach, drawing the attention of a few people working.

"Finnick," she crooned, looking up at her to confirm.

She felt goosebumps appear on her arms and she nodded, swallowing. More people were staring now and Rini took hold of Mags' hand, giving it a small squeeze. "I think you'd better show me how to do things around here before we're kicked out."

The stares didn't stop when Rini started to work, as she had hoped. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen very many children around. She glanced over her shoulder, catching a dark haired man staring at her. He didn't look away from her, seemingly unashamed of openly staring at her. The hairs on the back of her hair stood on end and she turned away to grab more of the soiled laundry out of the cart. It had to be something wrong with her head; she was only being paranoid.

* * *

><p>The room the soldier had taken her to was of decent size, with a long table in the middle of it. She recognized Plutarch immediately as he and the woman she did not know stood up.<p>

"It's good to see you again," He smiled at her. "This is President Alma Coin, the leader of District Thirteen."

The woman held her hand out to Rini and she stepped forward to grasp it. "It's a pleasure to have you here. I trust that the wounds you sustained in the arena were taken care of?" Something about her voice bothered Rini, but she gave a small smile.

"Yes, thank you. They have been very accommodating. Everyone has," Rini tacked on at the end, unable to guess as to why she was meeting the leader of the District.

Coin nodded, satisfied, and motioned for her to sit. "Might as well get right to it. Plutarch mentioned to me that you were married to Seneca Crane, his predecessor. I was hoping we could talk a little about that."

Her brow furrowed and she glanced to Plutarch, who nodded in encouragement. "Okay. What exactly are you wanting to know?" She shivered and rolled the sleeves of her shirt down, covering the schedule on her wrist.

The gray haired woman gave her a tight lipped smile. "Why don't you just start from the beginning?" She folded her hands and rested them on her lap, staring at Rini intently.

"The beginning. Alright." Renata sat back in her chair and she gazed around the dim room thoughtfully, preparing herself. "I met him during my first Hunger Games. He told me of the fate that some victors had after winning and that he was certain I would fall into it." She paused when Coin raised an eyebrow at her. "Being sold as a prostitute. Not even sold, presented as a gift to people."

Plutarch shifted slightly in his chair but nodded for her to go on. Had he known of what they did to the victors? He had to have had some notion.

"Seneca proposed that to avoid that fate, he would buy the exclusive rights to me. My body, I suppose. All of this was up to me, he claimed. Either suffer being passed around or belong to him. So I went into the arena and came out alive. I lost an eye in the process, but…" She pointed to her eye that was a slightly deeper blue than the other, "…they were able to make me pretty again. That was what mattered the most." The room felt colder and she hugged her arms to her chest. "He took me from my home without warning and tried to play nice, but when I didn't live up to what he expected, he took me by force. That was the first time of many that he would force himself on me." Her hand wandered to the swell of her stomach and she held it, eyes widening for a moment like she had forgotten it was there. "He married me on my eighteenth birthday, effectively cutting me off from a life outside of him. I was kept as a prisoner in the house he had outside of the Capitol, but after some convincing, he brought me with him to the Capitol for the 74th Hunger Games."

Coin, who had been looking more and more displeased the more Renata spoke, perked up a little.

Rini pursed her lips and sighed. "I made an agreement with Haymitch to plant the idea of two victors winning into Seneca's head. I guess you know what happened after that."

The other two were quiet and her words hung in the air until Coin sighed.

"That's all very sad, but I was hoping you could give us some information about the inner workings of the Capitol." Rini's offense must have shown on her face, for the older woman smiled apologetically. "Forgive me, I don't mean to make light of all your sufferings, but the man is dead. We can't exactly use your personal life for information."

"Then why am I here?" Rini exclaimed, standing up. Her heart was pounding and she looked to Plutarch questioningly. "I told you everything! It's not like he was showing me every secret that the Capitol has kept! He didn't trust me! All that mattered to him was that I was complacent to open my legs for him whenever he desired me!"

"I have already told her everything I know, Rini. We just thought that with your experience, you would know something I wouldn't, that's all." Plutarch looked from Rini to Coin, wondering if he would have to play referee.

"You want information?" There was no telling just how many people Finnick had been given to in all his years as a slave. He learned early on that knowledge was more important than any amount of money, and that made him dangerous. "You should have saved Finnick." She got up to leave, relieved that they didn't insist on her staying. They could have waited longer, they could have saved him! They had to have made the conscious decision to leave him, as they did the rest of the tributes.

Before the doors shut, she heard Plutarch sigh and his chair squeak as he swiveled to face Coin. "I told you it was a long shot."

**Hi there! Hooray for an update! I hope it was worth the wait! I'm working on this story and suffering through a class and working all at the same time, so please bear with me, I promise that this story is getting written! Thank you you lovely lovelies for reading and reviewing!**

**-Kelsey xx**


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